One Moment
by Loyal and Just
Summary: Ron and Hermione share a moment in the Chamber of Secrets we aren't shown, that Harry never knows about. A moment that will change the nature of their friendship forever. (I was reading the Chamber of Secrets and found a passage where Ron and Hermione were in a stall out of Harry's view that seemed a little sus. How are we to know this didn't actually happen?)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **I was just rereading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and at the beginning of chapter 11 'The Dueling Club' there's a passage that stuck out to me that never has before. Decided this passage made for just the most adorable fanfiction of a scene we never saw. So I'm doing something a little unusual. First passage I'm writing here in italics is the exact passage from the book, just for context so you all know what I'm talking about and where I'm coming from. The second chapter will be a fic of what could have really happened behind the stall door Harry didn't know about. Also if anyone has a problem I stop the story right before the kiss. I have many reasons. For one, if Ron and Hermione had actually kissed in the second book their friendship and dynamic through all the books would be a lot different. Whereas an almost kiss is a lot easier to dismiss and never address again. It's a moment that could have happened but didn't so it totally could happen in the real story and they never mention it again. For two, the idea of 12 year olds kissing grosses me could have had this sweet innocent moment when they were 12, but I couldn't make the wee beans actually kiss.

* * *

_"You haven't seen Ron or Hermione, have you?" said Harry._

_"No, I haven't," said Percy, his smile fading. "I hope Ron's not in another girls' toilet..."_

_Harry forced a laugh, watched Percy walk out of sight, and then heading straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He couldn't see why Ron and Hermione would be in there again, but after making sure that neither Filch nor any prefects were around, he opened the door and heard their voices coming from a locked stall._

_"It's me," he said, closing the door behind him. There was a clunk, a splash, and a gasp from within the stall and he saw Hermione's eye peering through the keyhole._

_"Harry!" she said. "You gave us such a fright- come in- how's your arm?"_

_"Fine," said Harry, squeezing into the stall. An old cauldron was perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim told Harry they had lit a fire beneath it. Conjuring up portable, water proof flames was a specialty of Hermione's. _

_"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained as Harry, with difficulty, locked the stall again. "We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."_

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF HIS CHARACTERS. THE CHAPTER AHEAD IS COMPLETELY JUST MY IMAGINATION. I ALSO DO NOT OWN THE WORDS IN ITALICS ABOVE THAT I HAVE JUST WRITTEN. I OWN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.**

Now that you know where we are and what's happening, please enjoy the actual chapter of fanfiction I have written ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

`"Are you sure I shouldn't at least leave Harry a note telling him where to find us when he wakes up and Pomfrey lets him go?" Ron asked Hermione for about the third time that morning. Standing in such a small stall in the girls lavatory next to her felt so uncomfortable for so many reasons. He was sure his face was beginning to flush as he tried to press himself as close against the stall wall as he could manage.

"Oh really Ronald calm down. I swear no one comes in here. You act like you're the first boy to ever step foot in a girl bathroom." At these words Ron's flush turned into a full burning red blush, "Harry will be fine, he'll figure it out. Besides I don't suspect his bones would have grown back so quickly over night he'll probably still be in the hospital wing long after we're done in here."

Ron, now more embarrassed, did loosen up at Hermione's words. She was right, no one would be coming in. Just then Moaning Myrtle popped her spectral head through the wall right beside his. Ron let out a small yelp jumping to the other side of the small stall so he was right beside Hermione brushing her shoulder in the tight quarters.

"Bloody hell Myrtle, you can't just sneak up on people like that!" Ron exclaimed.

She let out a miserable sob, "Last time I checked this was my toilet, and you're not even supposed to be in here boy. So I'll go sneaking around wherever I like thank you very much. Where's that other one?" Myrtle looked at Hermione as she phrased her question.

"What other one?" Hermione replied, trying to be as polite as possible, not wanting to upset the ghost.

"That hansom Harry Potter one from Nicholas's death day party. I quite liked that one." Myrtle had on the closest thing to a smile Hermione had ever seen on her face.

"Oh, he's in the hospital wing, quidditch accident." Hermione responded.

"Really? Did he die?" Myrtle asked.

"No" Ron and Hermione replied in a unison, appalled at how excited she looked when she asked.

"Darn, well I might as well just go check make sure he's not a ghost!" And with that the annoying girl was gone, off and hopeful to find a spectral Harry.

After a moment Ron moved back over to his side of the toilet opposite Hermione. His arm hot where it had previously been touching hers.

"Can you believe that? Even Myrtle has an eye for Harry. What is it about that boy the girls go crazy for." Ron spoke partially to himself, little did he know it had been fully to himself.

"What?" Hermione said, looking up from her book at him, she hadn't heard a word he said.

"Myrtle, liking Harry, it's madness right? Although I can't say I blame her, all she see's is what every other first and second year girl in this school sees." Ron said obviously a little annoyed and resentful.

Hermione looked at him perplexed?

"Oh tell me you haven't noticed how star struck every girl is by him. Even my own sister. I love the bloke but being the best friend of the famous Harry Potter can be a real confidence check sometimes. No girl here has ever even looked at me from his shadow." At these last words Hermione blushed a bit, but did her best to hide it with her mess of fuzzy hair.

"Oh please Ronald that's not true." She responded.

"Oh yeah, give me one girl who doesn't worship the ground he walks on?"

Hermione looked him in the eye, the air standing still for a moment, "I don't." she spoke softly.

Ron felt his blush flair up again.

"You shouldn't let the way other people see Harry affect how you see yourself Ron. You are just as good a wizard as him. Did Harry defeat that giant troll in the bathroom last year? No, he might have helped but that was all you."

Ron perked up a little at her words. Did she really think he was a good wizard? This was about the closest thing to a compliment Hermione had ever paid him.

"I appreciate the efforts Hermione but lets face it, I'll never be as smart as you, or as good at quidditch or defensive spells as Harry. You and Harry are the stars here. I'm just the background character."

"Will you stop that!" Hermione snapped at him, closing her book and setting it down above the cauldron on the toilet. "Harry and I are no better then you. We couldn't have survived any of the adventures we've been without you. Besides we all have our ups and our downs, Harry and I will never match you in chess. You are a very talented wizard Ron. Now stop trying to make yourself feel bad and help me with this knotgrass."

Ron was frozen for a moment as he and Hermione stared at each other. Deep down he knew she was right, it was just hard not to feel bad sometimes, with the brothers that he had and then being Harry Potter's best friend.

"Do you really think I'm an amazing wizard?" Ron spoke softly whilst looking at his shoes.

Suddenly he felt two small hands atop his shoulders. His skin burned where she touched it. He looked into Hermione's eyes, she was a lot closer to him now and looking his straight in the eyes. "Of course I do Ronald. I don't know what we'd do without you."

Blue met brown eyes as they both stood completely still in a moment of mutual understanding. Hermione saw him, really saw him. To Hermione he wasn't just Harry Potter's best friend, or the funny Fred & George's little brother, or the amazing Charlie, or the smart Percy or Charlie's little brother. To Hermione he was just Ron, and being Ron was enough to think he was amazing. Ron had never felt this way before. Butterflies started to churn in his stomach at her presence, and his burning skin began to burn deeper, like it was burning her hand prints into his skin forever, so he would never forget the feeling. Ron looked down at the girl in front of him in a completely different light. He inspected her entire face in this new light. She was gorgeous. Ron's eyes got caught on her lips, he felt a gravity coming from them pulling him closer. His head moved down without his mind even noticing. He looked up from her lips to her eyes back down and back up again. Looking into her eyes he could almost read her thoughts, hear her voice giving him the go ahead. He closed his eyes and she closed her, their faces gravitating to the others until only a few centimeters separated them, they froze, their noses touching. There would be no going back if he moved his face just a few centimeters forward.

Suddenly a voice sounded from outside the stall, it was Harry. Ron and Hermione both snapped out the trance the other's eyes had put them. Hermione yanked her hands away from Ron sending her body back towards her side of the stall. She bumped into the cauldron on her way back making a loud clanging sound and sending some of the potions splashing up in the air. Ron gasped reaching an arm out to steady her so she wouldn't fall to the floor or worse into the boiling potion. As soon as she was stable both their eyes darted to where his arm touched hers and he retracted it immediately. Hermione bent down looking through the keyhole at Harry.

"Harry!" she said, as if absolutely nothing had just been going on. Maybe nothing had just been going on, thought Ron. Maybe he had been reading into it. Hermione opened the door for Harry. "You gave us such a fright- come in- how's your arm?"

"Fine," said Harry, squeezing into the stall.

"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained as Harry, with difficulty, locked the stall again. "We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."

Ron felt a strange need to start making excuses as if Harry would be suspecting something. As if Harry would have any idea anything between his two best friends was different. But Ron knew it was, everything was different. He was looking at Hermione in a completely different light. How had he never seen it before. Sure she had her annoying moments, and loved to bicker with him about endlessly ridiculous topics. But maybe that's what he liked about her. There was a fire within her, a passion for everything. A passion that made Ron want to strive to be better himself. But above all else, she saw him unlike anyone else ever had, or could.

Little did he know this moment hadn't changed Hermione's feelings for him at all. Because her feelings had always been here. Since that first day on the train. How could she not notice the adorable boy with the brilliant ginger hair and the dirt smudge on his nose. The boy who had risked his life to come and save her from a mountain troll. The boy who sacrificed himself for her and Harry in a game of chess, not knowing he'd only be knocked out. The boy who would do absolutely anything for his friends.

All it takes is one moment for your view of a person to completely change. Little did any of the three of them know that was the moment. From that moment on Ron and Hermione's friendship would never be the same.


End file.
